Greenway District Planning Study

[briv]

The Boston Redevelopment Authority invites you attend the first public meeting on the Greenway District Planning Study.

Tuesday Feb. 17, 6pm, BRA Boardroom, 9th Floor, Boston City Hall

Come meet the project team, review the project schedule and learn about the scope of the study.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Peter D. Gori
Senior Manager, Public Realm Projects
Project Manager, Crossroads Initiative
Boston Redevelopment Authority
One City Hall Square, 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02201-1007
p (617) 918-4451
f (617) 918-4461
c (617) 279-9466
peter.gori.bra@cityofboston.gov
www.bostoncrossroads.com

[ablarc]

Originally Posted by ablarc

In the case of Fenway Center, the public can be allocated a big share of the blame. That's significant; it shows what kind of answer you get when you ask the public for guidance

Originally Posted by kennedy

Do we count as the public? I tend to think developers should have a listen to what we say here...and use it as guidance.

Originally Posted by statler

The public is people who have the time to go to endless meetings.

Well, are some of us ready to become members of The Public?

[Beton Brut]

I'm in.

And after, cocktails.

[pelhamhall]

I will be there tonight. Bring friends. But I'm feeling hopeless and useless...

These "studies" are always rigged. I could produce this "study" in the next two hours based on Menino's already public statements.

In order to make Boss Menino's ideas actual law, we have to jump through the silly little hoops of this BRA "study" process.

The city will spend $500,000-1.5M to tell us that "buildings along the water's edge should be 10-15 stories high, environmentally friendly, enhance pedestrian connections and beautify the public space around them. Buildings on the city-side of the Greenway can be taller, if the developer is a donor to the Boss Menino For Life Fund. Bla bla bla environmentally-friendly, bla bla bla bicylces, bla bla bla affordable housing, bla bla bla shadows."

[pelhamhall]

I am here - packed crowd, standing room only... The premise, as described by the presenter can best be summed up as "city hall power grab"

Tentacles, wrapping tightly around the heart of the city

[Beton Brut]

I'm here. It's mobbed - I can't even get in the bloody room. Can't hear the presenter or see his graphics.

CORRECTED: I'm in the front row.

[Beton Brut]

Sorry we didn't connect, pelhamhall. The Q&A was essentially hijacked by residents of Harbor Towers and the West End, in fear of the development of the garage parcels.

I asked a two part question. The BRA guys failed to answer either part. Shocking.

And now, back to my beer.

[PaulC]

I liked the question, I live on East India Row and I'm concerned about the building planned for the garage next to the Aquarium. Wouldn't that also be the building planned outside his window????

The meeting was a lot less anti-development that I expected.

[Ron Newman]

I can understand the concern of Harbor Towers residents, but no part of the Greenway borders the West End.

[Beton Brut]

^^ Correct on both counts, Ron.

However, the West Enders are concerned with the height and scale of the proposed development of the Congress Street Garage, which does border the Greenway.

Imagine: Lord of the Flies, with a cast of affluent retirees.

[pelhamhall]

I'm sorry we didn't connect, what a packed crowd!

If more pro-growth and progress types don't come to these next planning meetings, the urban core, the very heart of the city is going to be under strong fire.

This City Hall power grab extends into the North End, includes the entire Leather District... deep into the Financial District past PO Square... Government Center all the way up to Cambridge Street...

The tentacles of this "study" are going to run deep and strong and choke most future growth in Boston's downtown.

Yes, I sound alarmist. I am extremely alarmed. You should be too.

[JohnAKeith]

Did you see any politicians at the meeting?

[Ron Newman]

I would not like to see major demolition and development in the North End or Leather District. Do you?

[PaulC]

There were lots of 'movers and shakers' at the meeting. I sat behind the two heads of the greenway and Tom Palmer was beside them. Most politicians had people there to represent them. One of the people in charge said there were about 30(?) Harbor Tower people there.

I don't think you will ever see demolitions in either the North End or Leather District. You will be vacant lost built on and amybe small building built up to the height o surounding building.

[Ron Newman]

In which case, I don't understand the reference to "power grab extends into the North End, includes the entire Leather District".

[pelhamhall]

What I meant was that this little "study" isn't about the curbs, trees, connections and buildings that are fronting the so-called "Greenway", it is in fact a Trojan Horse overlay planning district that extends 3-5 blocks deep into the entire heart and core of the city. Another set of regulations. Another set of zoning guidelines. All disguised as a "Greenway Planning Study"

The reality I fear is much, much worse... this is a re-drawing of most of Downtown Boston and nothing less. Granted, the North End is not going to get skyscrapers ever, but this greatly impacts Gov Center and the Financial District.

This Trojan Horse study is certainly not advertised as "Re-thinking and re-planning Downtown Boston" and yet that is what it is. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that something like that sneaking in the back door under the guise of a "Greenway study" is dangerous because this means the city's little old lady "park people" are going to be forming the guidelines for downtown buildings - not parks.

[Waldorf]

I was there as well. Most people in the audience were confused about what this study is all about - even the thug from Lamattina's office was under the wrong impression. First, the name 'Greenway District' is misleading. They should have named called 'Greenway Studay Area' or something else - it is not a new neighborhood or cultural district - merely a planning study district.

Second, this study is meant to guide, with respect to the existing neighborhoods and the Greenway, future development. This does not mean that the city is going to embark on a Government Center type of redevelopment - far from it. Nor is the city about to force property owners to redevelop their parcels.

[pelhamhall]

The study is meant to guide future "height limits" and it stretches deep within the Financial District.

Call it whatever you want, but when you discuss height limits deep within the Financial District, I call it a Trojan Horse, back-door rezoning/restricting of downtown development.

All in the name of protecting shadows from the so-called "Greenway"

It is very, very important that we make our voices heard as this process progresses. Even though we all know these little make-work studies always come to the same conclusion: "whatever Boss Menino wants"

[Beton Brut]

Originally Posted by Beton Brut

I asked a two-part question. The BRA guys failed to answer either part. Shocking.

Was posting from my mobile, and should have gone back and amended my initial post.

At the meeting, I asked:

• What action has the BRA taken to establish a plan, best practices, or guiding principles (with or without a public process) in the 22 years since the Artery Project entered the construction phase?
  
• In the opinion of the BRA, what about the Greenway, as currently constituted, says "world class" from an urban planning standpoint?

Neither question was answered to my satisfaction. The responses were paper thin, referencing "other planning priorities" over the past 22 years.

Surely someone in City Hall recognized that the project would be done someday...

[JohnAKeith]

Is the city making a land-grab now that the State Rep for that area is out-of-office?